First Time Diver

[jboneng]

Don't let Hollywood and media ruin your dive, Seeing sharks in their natural habitat is aw-inspiring as long you follow the general rule when it comes to wildlife, keep your distance, be calm and don't provoke the animal. If you are planing to dive in waters where it is likely to encounter sharks, study up and/or talk to someone with the knowledge about the sharks body language so you know when you are provoking or getting to close and need to back off a bit.
Being infected with flesh-eating bacterias is probably the last thing on the list of things you should worry about while diving.

 

[timt97]

I don't want to take this post in a different direction, but I'm going to be in Panama City Labor Day weekend. I'll be with family but want to go on a couple dives. So I'll be by myself for that. Where is a good place to get set up with people to go with?

 

[TN-Steve]

And don't forget, it's coming up on SHARK WEEK on Discovery Channel, so it's "ALL SHARK HYPE ALL THE TIME". Lots of good advice here, I know that it's hard to get those irrational fears out of the brain once they get planted, but breath easy, enjoy the beautiful views and critters, and just have fun.


Steve

 

[Bob DBF]

The posts before mine sum up the actual issues quite well.

The news is now in the business of keeping your attention on their station and advertisers. To this end they will play the news in a way to keep you interested, which is basically to scare the he** out of you and let the facts be damned. One shark attack is good for weeks of repeating until one thinks that they are happening all the time, regardless of the facts surrounding the incident. Dogs bite people all the time, but add in pit bull and its good for holding the audience so it is repeated constantly.

The slanting of news is pervasive and is not done to make a valid point, it is done to gain market share and revenue.

Research the facts yourself and I'm sure you will feel much better about your diving and much worse about "the news".



Bob
-----------------------------------
Oh, oh it’s a dangerous world Jimmy Buffett

There's A Sucker Born Every Minute. -- P T Barnum

 

[EFX]

Shark attacks on divers underwater are rare. The attacks as already mentioned seem to be against swimmers and surfers. Keep in mind that the reef sharks are used to seeing divers; At least at the popular dive sites and seeing one more diver is not going to attract their attention. A recent book called "Shark - Human Interaction" by Erick K. Ritter, Ph.D provides many interesting insights into shark behavior around humans. He lists non-rythmic movements as the biggest trigger in attracting sharks as the vibrations can be detected a long way off beyond the sight of humans. Here are some more don'ts: swim or dive downstream of fishing, swim in close proximity to sharks in relatively tight spaces (between reefs, in a canyon, etc.). Sharks have been known to attack when their escape routes have been cut off. Besides the area around the shark it also includes the water column above the shark. So, don't head to the surface above a shark in these situations. Never, ever, hit a shark on the snout. This is a sensitive area and hitting it there may provoke an attack. Rather, hit it in the gill area as this is where many sharks hit other sharks when competing for food or territory and want to chase other sharks away. Have fun diving. Wish I could be there.

 

[freewillie]

Some news outlets have recently been calling Vibrio vulnificus "flesh-eating".
Surprise! News outlets often get their news wrong.

This report: Bay County Health Officials Explain Vibrio Vulnificus seems to have gotten it right.

It's been a long time since medical school microbiology but without having to go back to my text books, off the top of my head Vibrio species are generally responsible for diarrhea type illnesses. The classic is Vibrio cholera which causes the diarrheal illness cholera. There are two salt water species V. vulnificus as stated in the article and V. parahemolyticus. Both also cause diarrhea. They apparently produce a toxin that prevents your colon from absorbing water and the fluids stay in the colon causing diarrhea. Unfortunately the diarrhea can be so severe that the victim and become dehydrated and will actually die of dehydration from fluid loss.

The other significant salt water bacteria that makes humans sick is ciguatera which you can get from eating affected fish. It is also in the differential for diarrhea.

I'm sure there are some others but I'd have to go back to the books or curbside an infectious disease specialist friend.

 

[Scubagolf]

Once you are actually close to sharks in the water your fear will almost certainly go away. Most, if not the vast majority of divers dive hoping there will be sharks.

 

[boulderjohn]

Almost all--close to 100%--shark encounters with humans in history occurred at the surface in poor light. Almost none (close to 0%) happened to divers at depth. The exceptions are primarily to spear fishermen. If you want to be safe from sharks--go diving. If you want to take a risk, do a surface swim at dawn or dusk.

 

[industrious95]

I think the real problem is watching too much "news" on TV.

"Flesh eating bacteria" is a nice catchy headline, but I don't see the population of Florida disappearing as they're eaten away.

It's a shame you have to do your OW cert while you're worrying about all these things that are so unlikely to affect you. Your Certification dives will give you enough to think about, without the additional stressing over some stupid television show trying to come up with a scary headline to boost their ratings and advertising rates.

If you can, focus on the dive - enjoy yourself. Remember, TV isn't real. Besides, being in the ocean will keep you away from Ebola, West Nile Virus, Bird Flu, and the new mosquito borne disease I can't even pronounce. TV news is all about scaring you, not informing you.

Dive Safe and Enjoy!

 

[THRASH]

Thanks t4e,
We went and had an amazing time. No flesh eating bacteria that we know of

no idea about the sharks, but "flesh eating bacteria"...its naturally occurring in warm salt water during summer, can only be infected if you have open wounds or eat raw fish, i don't see anything out of the ordinary with this as opposed to any other bacteria

there seems to have been an isolated outbreak in Florida last year,
took six dive trips last year and never had a problem

---------- Post added August 11th, 2014 at 03:06 PM ----------

Thanks industrious95,
I was able to calm my worrying and focus only on my certification and training. We ended up really enjoying ourselves.
Thanks for the info

I think the real problem is watching too much "news" on TV.

"Flesh eating bacteria" is a nice catchy headline, but I don't see the population of Florida disappearing as they're eaten away.

It's a shame you have to do your OW cert while you're worrying about all these things that are so unlikely to affect you. Your Certification dives will give you enough to think about, without the additional stressing over some stupid television show trying to come up with a scary headline to boost their ratings and advertising rates.

If you can, focus on the dive - enjoy yourself. Remember, TV isn't real. Besides, being in the ocean will keep you away from Ebola, West Nile Virus, Bird Flu, and the new mosquito borne disease I can't even pronounce. TV news is all about scaring you, not informing you.

Dive Safe and Enjoy!

---------- Post added August 11th, 2014 at 03:07 PM ----------

Hey timt97,
We just got back from our PCB trip and we went out both days with the "Dive Locker" crew there. They were really awesome. We had Juan as a divemaster both days and it was really great.
I highly recommend them!

Thanks!

I don't want to take this post in a different direction, but I'm going to be in Panama City Labor Day weekend. I'll be with family but want to go on a couple dives. So I'll be by myself for that. Where is a good place to get set up with people to go with?

---------- Post added August 11th, 2014 at 03:10 PM ----------

Thanks all for your responses to my post. We did 2 dives in the FL springs (cold water) and then did 4 more dives throughout the weekend in the ocean. Our very first ocean dive was greeted with a friendly sea turtle who stayed by our side the entire dive. Then our very last dive a shark was spotted by the dive master, but fortunately I did not see it, which is a good thing since I am so nervous about them! Now we are back on land enjoying Shark Week! Happy Diving everyone